Easter

1 John 4

Today we testify to the fact that Jesus is alive.

Exactly how, we do not know.

In a similar way to how we don’t know any more about miracles,
other than they happen through the power and love of God.

Easter day testifies to the fact that no matter what happens,
no matter how bad things get,
the love of God is bigger, stronger and greater.

Or as John says: “Perfect love drives out fear.”

Our central theme in the gospels is love.

We all read fiction books too,
and even secular books and movies,
like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and The Matrix,
all testify to the fact that love is stronger.

We know deep within us,
that love is stronger.

And this is primarily because of our link to our Creator.

Or once again as John says: “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Resurrection an action, not a theme

Now, we need to remember that while we are here to to remember an action of God the Father,
the resurrection,
the resurrection is not really a theme within our faith.

It is an action.

And that action of God the Father,
speaks of the true character and nature of God.

Different people at times speak of the nature of God.

And what we know with certainty is that the nature of God is love.

Resurrection has one more theme associated with it,
and that is hope.

The resurrection then speaks to 2 key themes,
hope and love.

I said a moment ago that “perfect love drives out fear.”

Our modern translation of that text expands it a bit and says this:

“(The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid.) A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid. It shows that we have not really learned to love.” – 1 John 4:18 (adapted from CEV)

In one respect,
faith and fear go hand-in-hand,
in that they are at either end of a continum,
– with fear of God’s judgement at one end
– and faith in God’s love at the other.

To repeat John:

The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid.
It shows that we have not really learned to love.

The theme then for the resurection is love.

But before we concentrate on that a bit more,
a few details from the Gospel reading.

Stone

The stone had been rolled away.

For centuries we have wondered who did it?
How did the stone roll away?

We know from the readings that come after that Jesus didn’t need to stone rolled away.

When he wanted to be somewhere,
he would simply appear.

Whether that was on the beach-shore,
or in a locked room;
one minute he wasn’t there,
the next he would appear.

So the rolling back of the stone,
wasn’t for Jesus,
it was for our sake.

Initial faith response

The initial response of the disciples to Jesus rising from the dead was dis-belief.

They didn’t believe.

It was only as they encountered Jesus that they would believe.

So we take out of this that doubt is okay.

Doubt is okay if we allow ourselves to be open to the Holy Spirit,
or Jesus transforming that doubt in us into faith.

Our role in faith,
is to be open to God’s work in our life.

Being open,
means nurturing our faith-life with God’s love,
and actively choosing to seek out God.

Naturally if we choose to always listen to doubt,
if we always listen to the cynical and hurting voices,
our pain will make it harder for God to work within us.

Our role then,
is to be astute as to what we fertilise our lives with.

Doubt will always come up at times,
if it did for the disciples,
who were closest to Jesus,
it will for us too.

Women

We need to remember the role of women too.

The initial people that Jesus reveals himself to after the resurection is the women.

He wasn’t in the tomb when the disciples came,
and the stories leave us to believe he was around,
yet he reveals himself first to the women,
rather than Peter or the Beloved-Disciple.

And that is significant,
the role women have played in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus,
and this was very counter-cultural in a time where women were not as valuable as men.

3 things

Three things to remember today:
1) the stone was rolled away for our benefit
2) faith is a journey – and doubt is okay, just be open to God
3) women play roles which are just as important as men in God’s Kingdom.

Love

But back to love.

As love is the key theme of the resurection,
I am going to leave you with an additional reading today,
it is from John’s first epistle of letter.

Dear friends, don’t believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God. Test them all to find out if they really do come from God. Many false prophets have already gone out into the world, and you can know which ones come from God. His Spirit says that Jesus Christ had a truly human body. <—> But when someone doesn’t say this about Jesus, you know that person has a spirit that doesn’t come from God and is the enemy of Christ. You knew that this enemy was coming into the world and now is already here.

Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit[a] is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world. These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. <—> We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don’t know God won’t listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies.

My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him. God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. <—> God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts.

God has given us his Spirit. That is how we know that we are one with him, just as he is one with us. <—> God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We saw his Son and are now telling others about him. God stays one with everyone who openly says that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s how we stay one with God and are sure that God loves us.

God is love. If we keep on loving others, we will stay one in our hearts with God, and he will stay one with us. If we truly love others and live as Christ did in this world, we won’t be worried about the day of judgment. <—> A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid. It shows that we have not really learned to love.

We love because God loved us first. But if we say we love God and don’t love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don’t love the people we can see? The commandment that God has given us is: “Love God and love each other!”

If you want to know then what Easter is about,
and what the resurection means,
it means love.